Ofwat has awarded £314,316 to Anglian Water in partnership with Business Modelling Associates for its project to Unlock bioresources market growth using a collaborative decision support tool.

Anglian Water will work with Northumbrian Water, Yorkshire Water, Southern Water and Thames Water to develop a collaborative, strategic planning capability, underpinned by Business Modelling Associates’ adaptive systems planning software.

This will identify opportunities to trade bioresources across existing assets and determine the optimal blend of future inter-company investments; tackling shared challenges and maximising environmental and customer value.

The project is one of 13 projects awarded a total of £5.2m of funding by the Water Breakthrough Challenge using new technology and cross-sector collaborations to improve water quality, reduce pollution and enhance services for consumers.

Steve Riches, Bioresources Portfolio Lead for Anglian Water said: 

“This project will challenge the traditional siloed business planning approach for bioresources and will clearly demonstrate the benefits of collaboration and adaptive systems planning, applied to strategic asset management decision making.”

The next competition will launch in Autumn 2022. Entries are encouraged from water companies in England and Wales, alongside partnerships with universities and institutes, retailers, start-ups, technology companies, charities, and small businesses. Previous winners have included collaborations between water companies and the likes of the Zoological Society of London, Microsoft, National Energy Action, and the Rivers Trus